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Create Your Own Signature Watermark as a Brush

Some photographers use watermarks to promote who they are and others use it to prevent people from stealing their images. Adding a large watermark on your image can take away the beauty of it but in some cases it’s necessary. If you need to added a watermark to your image, here’s an elegant way to add your personal signature as a watermark in Photoshop.

5 Steps to Create your Signature Brush

Step 1: Start with your signature or find a handwriting font you like. Since we are creating a brush, we don’t have to extract the signature from the background.

Step 2: Create the brush by clicking Edit from the file menu and select Define Brush. A brush name dialog box appears. Give the brush a descriptive name and then click OK.

Step 3: Open an image you want to watermark and create a new blank layer. Adding the watermark on this layer is non-destructive. We can delete or hide the layer without it affecting our image.

Step 4: Select the brush tool from the tool panel.Click on the brush preset picker and select your new brush. The new brush can be found at the bottom of the list. Last, choose a color for your brush from the tools panel.

Step 5: Zoom in on the area where you want to add your signature. Use the left and right bracket keys to size the signature. Click once to add the signature.

If you want the signature to be darker, duplicate the layer by using keyboard short [PC] Ctril + J, [MAC] Command + J. Use keyboard shortcut [PC] Ctrl + E, [MAC] Command + E to merge the two signatures.

Having the signature on a separate layer enables you to resize, move or hide the signature. Now lets have a little fun with company logos.

I created a new brush with my logo. Im normally not a fan of plastering my logo all over the image, I feel it takes away from the art work. But if you lower the brush or layer opacity, you can create a cool effect by randomly clicking around the image.

Creating a signature watermark brush is easy, how do you plan on using it? Leave a comment below.

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Vanelli is a working sports and portrait photographer, educator, and author living in Florida. After a successful career as a three-time, Triple Crown Karate champion, Vanelli turned his attention to teaching the visual arts. As an experienced educator, Vanelli has created videos for LinkedIn Learn, has written hundreds of articles, taught at major photography conferences and has developed many photography and digital workflow programs including Click for Kids.

Currently, he is the Director of Education at Skylum Software, teaching workshops, writing for Photofocus and creating tutorials for the Vanelli and Friends series.

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Regardless of the type of photography you focus on, Photofocus is here as a helpful and educational resource for the aspiring and professional photographer. Our goal is to assist in your success as an artist.